Apple has made a turn The page of Apple’s calendar where the next iPhone will be unveiled. To no one’s surprise, the iPhone 16 is the next model up, after the iPhone 15. The lineup includes the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. The phones made their debut at the company’s annual hardware event in September in Cupertino, California. (New Apple Watches were also announced.)
The latest iPhones have a few new tricks that set them apart from their predecessors: the action button is now available on all iPhones in this line, and there’s a new camera control button dedicated to taking pictures. Overall, many of the improvements are in the software (iOS 18), which will also be available to download next week if you have a compatible device. The iPhone 16 models are designed to take advantage of the new iOS 18 update. all Apple Intelligence features were announced earlier this year, but you won’t see many of them until the iOS 18.1 update arrives in October.
Below, I’ve rounded up everything you need to know about the iPhone 16 lineup. iPhone 16 pre-orders start on September 13, and here are the prices: the iPhone 16 is $799, the iPhone 16 Plus is $899, the iPhone 16 Pro is $999, and the iPhone 16 Pro Max is $1,199. They’ll be available in stores from September 20.
The iPhones 16
The iPhone 16 looks different to previous iPhones (the camera layout is vertical rather than diagonal) but they’re otherwise identical. The iPhone 16 Pro range looks more like its predecessors, but is slightly larger: the iPhone 16 Pro has a 6.3-inch display (up from 6.1 inches), and the iPhone 16 Pro Max is 6.9 inches (up from 6.7 inches). The phones aren’t that much bigger, but Apple has trimmed the edges around the display to maximise screen real estate.
Every iPhone in this line has the Action button, which Apple introduced last year. This button replaces the mute switch. You can customize the Action button to activate a flashlight, a shortcut, or some other setting. You can even set it to work exactly like the mute switch if you miss it (though it’s a lot less satisfying).
Apple says the ceramic glass on these models is 50 percent stronger than the first-generation Ceramic Shield, and a new manufacturing process makes the body colors more vibrant. The iPhone 16 comes in pink, teal, ultramarine blue, white, and black.
But there’s a new button gracing the iPhone hardware: Camera Control. It’s like a physical shutter button on cameras: a hard press takes a photo, a long press takes a video, and now you can do a soft press to enable a cleaner viewfinder without all the UI elements. With this soft press, you can swipe across the Camera Control button to cycle through zoom levels; if you do a double soft press, you can cycle through other modes. On Pro models, you can use this soft press to keep focus on a specific subject.
